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“Everyday Discipline” – A Skald’s Life- Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Journal Entry:

This week I am both talking about my Routines and trying to get back on track with them starting with my Morning Routine which represents the daily discipline of my life.  The every day self-discipline of taking control of some basic things including my thoughts and feelings is what I am doing here.

What you see mostly with my morning routine is taking control of my thoughts and feelings and learning to control what I  feel and think.  There is also the basic physical discipline of stretching to wake up my body.  It’s organizing my day in my head and then beginning to execute that plan in my life.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

I have a real love-hate relationship with honor these days, there are places where honor is present in my life and others where I would just soon challenge certain people to a good old fashion Viking duel to settle the question.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

I would say that the most likely candidate for my bucket list item here remains to get my tattoo which crosses off a goal and a bucket list item at the same time.  recently I engaged my courage with work and I think it paid off.  I will probably know for sure by the next ‘A Skald’s Life’ post.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

I need to catch up on my reading of books and probably this means a few novels because they go faster for me. non-ficiton books take longer because I try to think through them while I read them. Writing the non-fiction book is going to require some work as I keep shifting from one idea to another. I think my Youtube channel has become the living expression of the principle here.

Higher Virtue: Love:

I hate it when to love means you have to make choices of priority in that love.  I have to love myself first.  This has become clear if I want to be happy. This means other relationships do have a priority order but at the top is me and it has to be me.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Update To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

The routine works when it is done.  I have a problem being consistent with it and I am thinking that tomorrow I will start working on it and it alone for a couple days until the next A Skald’s  Life.  The issue is I want this to be a habit.  The habit of being my thoughts under my mastery.  This is going to take some months of being consistent to do this. This needs to be the focus in the coming year.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Wayfarer’s Wells – Part 1” – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues.

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Journal Entry:

In searching for an analogy of the purpose of my bucket list items I would say the idea of places on a path that stops at a well where you get to stop, get a good long drink of life and can sit down and pause and reflect on how great life is.   They become these way rest points for the wayfarer’s weary feet.

Under the foundational virtues, the bucket list items are much more about journies – two literal and one of the mind. The issue of be ing a traveler of life comes I up and this is very important to me as I now believe this is the only life I get, so I want to live it to the fullest. At the end of it, I want there to still be my sights on the wayfarer’s wells up ahead.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

This is my major hiking trip goal.  I want to do this as my first test of whether or not. I can be a true hiker at that point. it is something I want to do and enjoy.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

I went to Budapest in 2011 with my daughter.  I never really had time to explore the city, but it remains the only city so far I have been in that I enjoyed. I want to return, absorb as much of the culture as I can.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

This is a journey of the mind I want to take this year.  I sued to love reading but school kind fo ruined that which it always does temporarily.  But I feel those juices flowing again and there is so much new to absorb and read so.  I would also lek to be able to say – ‘yep read one book a week for a whole year.

Higher Virtue: Love:

Love for self comes up again.  I know it is winter and depression is a little harder to control in the cold and clouds right now, but it is more than that. There is so much I want to do and not a lot of time left when you really think about it in relation to my age and even though my health is good, I don’t want to take that for granted.  If I am going to love myself I need to start taking steps to make these things happen at a higher level. I am starting to feel stuck and that from a self-love point of view is not good.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Update To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

I find the yoga/stretching with meditation time to be enjoyable. I wish however it was a true habit and I need to work on that.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“My Morning Routine” – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Journal Entry:

My daily routine is shit these days.  I hate the holidays and I need more things to be habits rather than struggles. This is why I added a week to specifically discuss routine because it is the key to a better future.  Life has a way of passing and how we control what happens to our time and what we spend our time on is important.  For me, this is particularly true.

My morning routine is pretty messed up at times.  It is simply the fact that I need to spend more time doing other things at this time of year. I really wish I had a job that had a more stable schedule as this would help all my routines but the morning routine is simply a matter of me getting up and doing what needs to be done. Not just that but what needs to be done in terms of keeping myself balanced emotionally and that starts with meditation.  Something this last month I have struggled with.

I think this stems from my atheism.  Meditation seems too ‘spiritual’ even though I know it has psychological benefits that have nothing to do with divine anything.  It can feel like my old religious past and that is something I find distasteful anymore. But virtue is true regardless of religion and I know when I am meditating regularly, I am more stable emotionally.  This is the part of my morning routine I need to make more consistent and I think that it will require a meditation altar and a consistent form.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

My morning routine is probably the thing that develops honor in myself more than any other time.  It is about me finding balance and strength and being prepared for the day.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

I know of no routine that prepares one for the necessity of courage other than to meditate on courage.  That is definitely why meditation is important.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

The reading and writing as part of my daily routine need to be more solid.  Too many things hinge on them.

Higher Virtue: Love:

I recently heard a speaker via YouTube make a simple statement that learning to love oneself is key to everything and that one should take the chance and love yourself first and then the rest will flow out of that.  I couldn’t agree more but my personal struggle has always been to put myself on the back burner for others.  Finding balance here is the key and routine is the process of turning that key.  Of spending time on what is important to me.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Create a Daily Log and To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

There is no need to change this.  There is a need to be more consistent in doing it. But that is probably true for all my routines.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Year’s End” – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Journal Entry:

It should be noted, that for me new years and years end from a calender sense do not mean as much to me. My philosophy has always been that the day you are thinking about doing something is the day to act on it.  If you wait till later, it will fade and you will find yourself not doing it.  My year cycle goes from April to March which coincides with my birthday.   That is mostly about the assessment of progress and making adjustments to goals and my bucket list.

That said as I am starting to look back at 2019. I can say at least it wasn’t shitty for me.  Not what I wanted completely but it didn’t suck like 2018 or cause grief like 2017.  The two things that bother me right now is I felt I would have a new job by now and that I would have crossed at least one thing off my bucket list by now.   The deadline is March 2020, but those were the things I wanted to get off my list before the end of 2019.

I suppose it could still happen but I am thinking it will be early 2020 that those things will happen and so 2019 has been the same ole for the entire year.  It is the part I have found most frustrating.  But this week is about looking at my bucket list and I am trying to remind myself that I still have three months left.  it really isn’t ‘year’s end’ for me yet.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

The real issue here is once I  get a new job, I want to start planning on how to gain the hiking equipment I need to start planning for day hikes, weekend hikes and eventually this hike. As a hobby, hiking is less expensive than most but getting good durable equipment will be my first issue.  After that its all about planning and getting some experience.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

Money rears its ugly head on this item too.  I mean vacations are not that difficult to save for if you have some disposable income.  This has a ten-year time limit; well, nine years now.  I suppose this year’s end is a reminder that the clock is ticking.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

This is a new item and begins at year’s end.  I need to start planning this one out at least a month at a time.

Higher Virtue: Love:

I think for the purpose of self-love, I need to have a bucket list item crossed off very soon. I need 2020 to be a good year.  I really need that at this point.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Create a Daily Log and To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

My routines are good and next week I will look at them specifically.  But mostly it is the execution that needs to be better.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Milestones” – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Journal Entry:

A family member once remarked to me that my goals and bucket list items were good but seemed unrealistic at times or might be hard to achieve.  I told them that is kind of the point.  For me Goals, whether the regular yearly ones or the ones on my bucket list are milestones on the journey. Markers of progress.  The goals are about getting somewhere even if that somewhere is gone to simple for enjoyment’s sake.

My bucket list items are just that – the enjoyment of life milestones.  They are the subject this week of review and one that I enjoy every time in doing because they are the ones that cause me to dream the biggest.  The point of a bucket list is to keep you living life and if done right has things crossed off it regularly.  Also though there should be things on it when you die.  The most damning thing in my mind for a human being is not to have his eye on the horizon toward the next mile marker even when you’re dying.

You can milestones or gravestones – the choice is yours.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

I want hiking to be more of a regular hobby of sorts.  I need out more and even if alone hiking offers me that thinking solace that I enjoy, but also the fresh air and exercise do wonder to my mood.  My bucket list item here is about my first long camping hike.  After that who knows.  Hiking the AP, PCT, and CDT in retirement?  Maybe.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

My first and last time in Budapest was so fast and I enjoyed it but I want to go back as a travel goal.  Part of a longer trip to discover my origins, maybe that river cruise capstone of that experience.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Be Honest, and Speak Truth to Myself and Others.  To Be Silent in the presence of Fools.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

This a new one where I can say to people I read a book a week for a year but also a desire that this is a habit I get into as well.  I want to learn something right up to the day of my death.

Higher Virtue: Love:

I am looking at this part of my bucket list and realizing that persuing these three items is some of the most loving things I could do for myself. The journey to these three items is really about me getting something I would love to do. All of them are expressions of who I want to be and what I want to see in my life.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Create a Daily Log and To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

I need to get the mechanics for this routine down and some stuff for meditation purposes.  I do like how this works now.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“You Can’t Go Back” – A Skald’s Life – Business Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day!

Journal Entry:

As I have started developing the discipline of being a writer, the reading parts are coming along fairly well.  It is the writing that is more time crunching and I think it is going to necessitate a change between workdays and rest days as to how much I write. it isn’t that 2000 words is a difficult goal, but it is time-consuming on a day I work, workout and then try to do the business of my life.   This is why I have fallen down a few times on days I work in getting that word count or even writing at all as life on a day I work can take a lot of time when the family needs you or you need to do other things.

I think the answer is to drop to 1000 words (about a blog post of extra work on a workday and then do 3000 on a rest day. This may fall short of my tentative goal of 60,000 by the end of November but you never know on rest days I might do more if inspired. I am also not going to try to make up missed work.  I find that is more frustrating in the long run and the best course of action is to pick where you are, make adjustments and then get moving. Looking back is never a good way to go.

Another thing I have been considering is doing 2-3 projects at once.  I should have taken this lesson from the blog because as people should notice I vary my content as far as the subject so I don’t get bored with one thing.  It is this shifting that has been very effective in keeping me blogging over the years I have done it. I may have to apply this to my writing as well.  perhaps 3-4 items that I rotate like the blog so I can do fiction and non-fiction at the same time.  This may slow down getting a book done every month or two but in the end, it will keep me writing every day which is the main thing.

Self-Reliance:

“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved not only for the individual but also for the family, clan, tribe, and nation.”

Principle: To achieve and maintain personal independence and advocate for independence in my family, state and nation.

Goal:  Find a new, better paying job by March 2020.

Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029

The job search has entered the long term frustrating part.  I get more and more rejections and still no interview at all.  I decided to use The Clergy Project and their ’employee help’ grant to see if I can get some help.  I don’t like getting help from a personality point of view but sometimes you need to go there. Using the resources at one’s disposal is self-reliant. Still, I would rather do it on my own personality.

Industriousness:

“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”

Principle: Work with the enjoyment of work itself.

Goal: Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019 (achieved)

Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.

Goal Achieved.

Hospitality:

“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”

Principle: To share out of my abundance to help people where I can with their life’s journey.

Goal: By March 31st of 2020, to be the leader/participant in a group of some kind.  (Goal Achieved

Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.

Goal Achieved.

Higher Virtue – Justice:

It is nice to look at this set of three goals and see only one left.  True, the most significant one, but I can’t help have a gut feeling that this one is a significant life changer. It will greatly change how I deal with life and people and I know that. I am just not sure everyone will like the job and career path I want to follow now.  Particularly those of Christian and religious persuasion.

Work Day Routine:

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time
  3. Blogging – Organize, revise, write a new post for the next day, templates
  4. Weightlifting: Gym time – 1 hour after work.
  5. Writing: 1000 words/day.
  6. Reading – 1/7 of a book a day
  7. Personal Business: record financial transactions, savings plan actions, budgeting, appointments, job search, other actions, etc.
  8. Check Communications and Email after 2 pm but before 4 pm.
  9. Nutrition: Daily Carb Count – 2

I think the change will make the writing part a little less daunting on very busy workdays.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“2019 Book List” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day

NaNoWriMo – Word Count: 2002

I have two book lists.  The one for the remainder of the year and it will be made up of books I already have on my shelf.  The other is for 2020 which is a bucket list item for that year.

The 2019 Book List is about developing the habits I will need to read a book a week in 2020.  I am also noting that the books must come from my current library that I haven’t finished or haven’t read with two exceptions. If my math is right there are nine weeks left in the year counting the first part of 2020.

The 2019 Book Reading List

  1. The Myth of a Christian Nation by Greg Boyd
  2. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
  3. The Virtue of Selfishness – Ayn Rand
  4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (exception)
  5. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
  6. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
  7. Tales of Norse Mythology by Helen A. Guerber
  8. The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury
  9. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein (exception)

My two exceptions are simply books I want to read again before next year. The rest are books in my current library that I have either started and need finishing or I haven’t read yet.

I am looking forward to this training for next year.  I want to make this a good 2020 and reading a lot is part of that. I need to get back to it.  I will start using Goodreads to do a review at the end of each week and this schedule starts on Sol’s day with the review on the next Sol’s Day and then diving into the next book.  If you follow me on Facebook then you will get the link to the review there as well.

I am still working on my list for 2020, but a post about that should be out soon.  All this starts tomorrow so time to dive in.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“NaNoWriMo and 2020 Reading List” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day!

National Novel Writing Month?:

I have done National Novel Writing Month in November many times, I have also succeeded twice. As we approach November this time I haven’t participated in the last few years as I was focused on school and writing for that.   That said, I could do this but I am conflicted because I could also use the same concept for my Non-Fiction Book as a major restart and massive getting the work done time as well.  So is it National Non-Fiction Writing Month instead?  I think so and it has the same acronym.  My plan is basically also to do 60,000 words too.  That makes it easy with 2000 per day.

Recently though I realized my first non-fiction book should not be a scholarly work but rather my own story of my journey from faith to atheism.  It also has the flavor of being something I can do without a lot of research.  It’s my story or at least my memories of my story and that inspires a lot of the possible titles but I won’t get into that yet. What I  do know is that there is a high probability that this time next week I will be writing this book. By the end of November, I plan to have it mostly there.  December will be finishing it up and polishing.  Then I will sit on it in January and then Edit it in February.  I guess this is a good process that would allow me to produce and edit a book every three to four months and I think this is a good habit to get into.

I want to use the concept of NaNoWriMo to get started.   Eventually, as a writer, I can see a month to write a book, one month to let it rest while starting something else and then a month of editing.  Having one book being written while a second is being edited sounds like a good way to go.  It would lead to three books in the creative forge at a time but that is the life of a writer.

2020 Reading List: 

A week or two ago I changed my bucket list item under Truth form learning Latin to reading a book a week for the year 2020.  it’s one of those ‘so I can say I did it’ bucket list items. But also I have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to my education.  So at the present time, I am looking into not only starting the habit of reading a book a week but also putting together my reading list ahead of time os that part won’t take a lot of thought other than to order the books in enough time to get to me.

Mostly I am looking at books under a couple veins but they have to be new to me in that I have never read them before.  This has to be a reading list, not a re-reading list.  I also am trying to hit a variety of topics but I have a couple themes

  1. Books that at one time were burned by religious people.
  2. Books on science particularly evolution the origin of life.
  3. Books by the Founding Fathers – I have read the federalist papers or at least most of them but some of the books by the founders like Thomas Paine’s Common Sense I have actually not read.
  4. Books on Economics and Political Science
  5. Viking Mythology and Culture (duh)
  6. Not to forget fiction – science fiction and fantasy probably but new stuff I haven’t read before.
  7. It’s going to be half non-fiction and half fiction.
  8. Half my fiction will be fantasy and the other science fiction.
  9. No book I am going to read in 2020 can currently be in my library.  I am using those books to get started the next couple of months to develop the habit. But the process of buying a new book and reading it is part of this.  I will make a few exceptions for books I just purchased for this purpose but other than that, I am going to read new shit.

Looking at this, I would say that it’s going to be a pretty eclectic list and I need to have it down before I start.  I do want to deal with one book I have put on this list because of #1 and it is a modern book: The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American by Andrew L. Seidel.  And the video below which was posted yesterday explains why.

Yeah. book burners piss me off. It tells me your afraid of what it says might disturb your precious world view.  It tells me ‘goose-stepping morons should try reading books instead of burning them’. 

My 2020 List So Far: 

The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American by Andrew L. Seidel.

Common Sense by Thomas Paine

 The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine

Leviathan Wakes, Caliban’s War, and Abaddon’s Gate by James S A Corey

Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

Outgrowing God by Richard Dawkins

Letters to a Young Contrarian by Christopher Hitchens

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

It’s a pretty good start, but I plan on getting this list done before Yule so maybe they can be gifts to me.  🙂 I will probably organize this later to make sure I have a good mix but in the end, it is going to be what I want to read. Although I am interested in books that people have burned and they go to the top of the list.

I am planning on using Goodreads to document my progress and write reviews on the whole thing.  If you follow my Facebook page, you will get each review.

Closing Thoughts:

If you haven’t noticed Sif’s Day has become pretty much whatever I want to write unusually under the moniker – The Rabyd Skald.  I kind of feel this is needed right now because I am using it to fill gaps in my thoughts and the normal weekly process. I just don’t always feel like doing something ordered so the end fo the week is getting the last bits of Choas out of my brain.  Hope you don’t mind.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“A Writer’s Bucket List” – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Mani’s Day

Journal Entry:

Well, I have reached the week where I look at my bucket list but I have also added the additional task of redoing my Routines.  Mostly though my decision to be a writer first and whatever else to pay the bills means some changes to both.  I have to develop two habits to do that 1) writing (on top fo the blog consistently every day) and 2) Reading.  I need to work that in right now and have some goals or bucket list items attached to them.

My bucket list is really about long term goals and having those mile markers on the journey where I can say – ‘hey. life is good’.  There are a couple bucket list items that looking at them may not be completely of this vein so I am thinking of changing them and they should reflect in some way the virtue I have attached them to as well.  it has been a year for many of them so it is time for a look again because what motivates me and inspires me has probably changed.

Routine changes are more about finding what practically works.  My morning routine works but my formal meditation time need some attention. The work and rest Day routines simply need to be ordered so the reading and writing get done every single day.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

I still want to do this.  I do have as kind fo a side identity being a hiker and wayfarer in real life.  I want to see this as my first big hike. It stays.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

I still want to do this.  One of my other ones is to visit the lands of my ancestors and I don’t think anyone has ever mentioned Hungarian ancestry, but I still love the city of Budapest.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Be Honest, and Speak Truth to Myself and Others.  To Be Silent in the presence of Fools.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

This bucket list item has been learning Latin but I have just not been able to inspire myself to learn it. More fitting with a writer and a desire for a long term goal about reading specifically, I want to read 52 books a year and that comes out to one per week. I decided the calendar year would be more appropriate for this one andI will probably use Goodreads for this for accountability.  I am going to however work this one in as soon as possible into the routine so once 2020 starts I will have developed the habit a bit.

Higher Virtue: Love:

I still struggle with this tension of being a natural care for others kind fo guy but neglecting myself at times. There are certain issues in my heart and head because of it. I have been meditating on this issue a lot but few things come into focus. its the age-old issue of self-love and care not getting done but me working hard to make others happy.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Shower, Personal Hygiene. Morning Meds.
  3. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  4. Meditation – 5 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Create a Daily Log and To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day

I find the biggest obstacle to formal meditation is I am not awake enough to concentrate on it and I feel a little grungy too.  I figure doing my stretching and getting a shower will do that.  I also have split my medications and supplements into two things so the don’t upset my stomach as much.  My payday is coming up and I want to order some candles and I found a company that produces valknut plaques of a sort for meditation. Time to get this meditation time truly formal as it helps me far too much to not do it or be hit and miss anymore.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Meditations – Side Identities” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day

A side identity is what a person is known for in certain particular contexts.  They are things that identify who you are but they are not the primary thing you are known for or the secondary one.  To me, they make up a part of who you are but do not encompass who you are.  My side identities are important parts of who I am but they are only who I am part of the time. Some of them are however known and are what is known about me.

Along with this are some that I want to have as side identities but I am still working on them. Things that will help with living my life better as a human being and supplement the primary and secondary things I am.

Weightlifter:

I think I have this side identity already.  I lift at the gym a lot and I have received compliments both at work and at the gym about how much I lift and how I look the part.  For me, this is in part about health and of course, a lot of nutritional elements go along with this.   I am a Paleo nutrition follower but that is the part of weightlifting and the healthy living that goes along with it.

Hiker:

I do want to do more hiking and more walking.  This is something I want to be a long term activity, but you know you have arrived at an identity people have of you when they start asking you advice about it.  I get that with weightlifting, but not hiking, Yet. I have a lot to learn and a lot to do here before this is a true side identity.

Reader/Scholar:

I guess in part I have some expertise that people like to ask about here.  I have read a lot and still read some.  My decision to be a writer primarily comes with an understanding that a required side identity is being a reader. I don’t probably read as much as I should and that needs to change.  That said, I have read enough that friends come to me and ask about stuff I know.

Pagan:

While I am a pagan in the sense I follow their virtues, I doubt very much people consider me a pagan yet.  I want to embrace this a little more fully as part of my cultural identity and an embracing of my cultural heritage. I suppose there is also an element of telling my former Christian identity to kiss my ass. But mostly it is about getting in touch with my past to give me spiritual strength.

There are a couple of others I am considering.  My daughter and I had a recent conversation about coffee. She wants to learn latte art, but my interest is the coffee itself.  I have never been one to drink the stuff but Paleo allows for coffee. It would be nice to find some form of coffee that my palate would actually like and doesn’t have any sugar in it.  It would be an interesting challenge to be a ‘coffee enthusiast’ because I have never really enjoyed a coffee before, but I am still meditating on it. I can see an image of me the reader sitting in my reading chair with a cup of good joe by my side so it is possible.

I am figuring some others will crop up as interests that complement other things. Almost all things are subject to the time you are inspired to give them and willing to sacrifice.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!